Amy Rees Anderson

Amy Rees Anderson

Tag Archives: agency

Awww yes…we have entered the fabulous month of December and the fabulous season of Christmas (and Hanukkah, Ramadan , Kwanza, and all the other fabulous December holidays being celebrated). And as should be done every December, it’s time to whip out that classic movie from 1983, “A Christmas Story” to watch little Ralphie ask Santa […]

When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day, Just go to the mirror and look at yourself And see what “the man” has to say. For it isn’t your father or mother or wife Whose judgment upon you must pass. The fellow whose […]

“Don’t touch that, it’s hot” my mom said as she pulled out a fresh tray of cookies from the oven – yet immediately I started thinking “I wonder how hot it really is? It’s probably not that hot. I think I’ll just see for myself just how hot it is.” You would think that nursing […]

One of the most difficult challenges a person can ever take on is the task of being a Parent. Being a parent is intimidating, it is heart wrenching, and some days it is downright terrifying. You do your best to teach your kids everything even though you are still learning yourself, you do your best […]

“Maybe it won’t work out. But maybe seeing if it does will be the best adventure ever.” That’s a quote we all needed to hear! I love it because it totally reminds us to have courage to go ahead and try things, even when we aren’t feeling totally sure that it is going to turn […]

“We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year! …We can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives.” – Russell M. Nelson I love that quote because it reminds me that it is absolutely possible to feel joy whenever we choose to, […]

Here is an interesting story I came across: A letter was found in a baking powder can wired to the handle of an old pump that offered the only hope of drinking water in a very long, seldom-used trail across the Armagosa Desert. The letter read: “This pump was all right as of June 1932. […]

This week is one of my happiest weeks EVER as my daughter Ashley is coming home from her mission Tuesday! In last Thurssday’s email I explained just how much I have loved getting Ashley’s weekly emails she’s been sending home over the last 18 months because they share the cool life lessons she has been learning along the […]

“What you have to decide… is how you want your life to be. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you’d want to have spent it? Listen, the truth is, nothing is guaranteed. You know that more than anybody. So don’t be afraid. Be alive.” – Sarah Dessen Nothing is guaranteed in […]

This last week was a stressful one. And in going through that stress I found myself beginning to really doubt many things that I had previously felt really good about. The more I thought about those doubts the more and more I began to really question things and wonder if I had been completely wrong […]

We come into this world with two things: Agency and Intelligence. We leave this world with what we have done with that agency, and our intelligence – which has hopefully deepened significantly during our life, either through education or experience or a combination of both. I am a great believer in education and I have […]

Remember back when you were a kid and they had those Choose Your Own Adventure books? I used to love those! You would start off reading the story and get to the bottom of the page and it would say, “To choose to do <this> go to page x or to choose to do <that> […]

“Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it’s more like a cha-cha.” That may just be one of my favorite quotes I have heard in a while. Maybe because it incorporates being optimistic and dancing, and everyone who knows me knows how much my […]

First off you need to know that your parents are freaking out right now that their babies are leaving home for the first time. Know that this is a hard time for them so be patient and kind with your parents the next few weeks…they are not trying to hold you back…they just don’t want […]

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do […]

If you could do anything you wanted with your life, what would you do? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Just for a minute take away all restrictions or limitations that typically exist and the barriers that scare you or deter you. Take away all worries of being able to fulfill your financial obligations […]

2014 has just begun and as I look ahead those words by Robert Browning of “The Best is Yet to Be” are ringing loudly. I am thoroughly convinced that 2014 is going to be the most Epic year EVER! For all of us! We have each just opened a new book full of blank pages […]

“Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the life of others.” -Gordon Hinckley Recently I was interviewed by Shauna Lake on KUTV news. During the interview she asked me if the success of my last […]

In life we all have a choice. We can be pretty good, or we can be GREAT! The difference in those two often comes down to paying attention to the details. I used to keep a sticker on my desk that said “If you don`t have time to do it right the first time, how […]

Sometimes we get so busy living our lives that we forget to slow down enough to make time for our friends. I have been guilty of that myself over the years, especially with working such crazy hours for so many years of my life. Taking time off this summer to spend with my family has […]

“Freedom means that no one can stop you from doing what is right, or persuade you to do what is wrong.” – Dadi Janki What a great quote! Love, love, love that quote. Because I believe that with all my heart. We may not all have freedom in our circumstances, but we all have freedom […]

Living in the moment is not always easy to do. It seems that we all have a tendency to focus our thoughts on our past mistakes and feel discouraged about them, or we focus our thoughts on a future that we wait to someday have. It seems that we rarely focus on our todays, our […]

Our agency is an amazing gift, and a scary gift all at the same time. Having the ability to make your own choices in life is so empowering and exciting. At the same time, it opens you up to make dumb choices, bad decisions, and even gives you the ability to hurt others by […]

I have been walking for…well let’s see…yeah, about 40 years now. And you would think that after 40 years of walking that I would have learned by now that that when one intends to go to the mall shopping, one should wear their comfortable shoes! Just like you’d think I would have learned that when […]

Every day we make choices. Some are minute. Some are major. Some choices we make without even consciously thinking about them. We are constantly making choices every second of every day: We choose to get out of bed or not get out of bed. We chose to brush our teeth or not brush our teeth. […]